I
would normally be winding up for the season and doing my review of
the season. However I’ve still got quite a few reader’s questions
to answer so I’ll continue to answer them for a few weeks.
I’ve
had several questions about Coventry City kits in recent times. Andy
Greeves wanted to know when the Chocolate Brown Admiral kit was first
worn. Having had the Red Admiral as a ‘change’ kit for three
seasons the Sky blues launched their Brown version at Derby County’s
Baseball Ground in September 1978, the same day that Steve Hunt made
his debut after signing from New York Cosmos. City won 2-0 with Hunt
scoring the first for a dream start and Ian Wallace netting the
second. It meant City had plundered seven points out of eight to move
into second place in the First Division.
The
chocolate brown kit was worn around 20 times between September 1978
and late 1980 at places like Ipswich, West Brom, Man City, Brighton,
Birmingham, Blackburn, Tottenham & Derby. Unfortunately it is
remembered for that catastrophic 7-1 defeat at West Brom the
following month and the FA Cup defeat at Blackburn the following
season but overall it was quite a good kit for the club.
Alex
Barker asked when Coventry City first won a yellow ‘change’ kit.
He thought it was in the 1980s but It was earlier than that Alex. The
first yellow kit was an Admiral ‘egg-timer’ version and
introduced whilst the chocolate brown version was still in use. The
first sighting of it was at a League Cup tie at West Brom in
September 1979, maybe to try and erase the memories of the previous
season’s nightmare. The kit was only worn half a dozen times and
only one win was recorded, at Crystal Palace in early 1981. A
different yellow kit, without the egg-timer stripes, was worn a
couple of times most notably at the League Cup semi-final second leg
at West Ham. The reason for this is unknown but as it was televised
it may have breached the shirt advertisement rules.
Gordon Milne with his management team in the yellow Admiral kit
Colin
Heys was a great fan of the original Green and Black striped ‘change’
kit that was worn between 1969 and 1974. He believed that it was
first worn at Crystal Palace. The story of the kit is that the club
announced the change from the all red away kit worn throughout the
Jimmy Hill era to the new continental-style stripes in the summer of
1969. However the new kit failed to arrive and the team had a problem
with successive early season away games at West Brom and Ipswich
where City would be expected to change from their usual Sky Blue. The
solution was a green shirt with black shorts and socks. Not only was
in very fetching (and pretty unique in league football) but also very
successful with 1-0 victories recorded at the Hawthorns and Portman
Road. Before the next change was required, at Manchester City’s
Maine Road in late September 1969, the new striped kit arrived and
was given its first airing there. It wasn’t a happy start for the
new kit as the Mancs ran out 3-1 winners. The kit was only worn a
further three times that season, at Chelsea (0-1 defeat), at Everton
(0-0 draw) and Sheffield Wednesday (1-0 win). The kit subtly changed
in 1972 with a collar added and continued until the end of 1973-74
season when a new combo of red shirts with navy blue shorts was
introduced.
Posts
Hi Jim,
ReplyDeleteWhat year was the all red shirt introduced (the one that ceased use in 1969, in favour of a change to the Green/Black)?
The Yellow Admiral was worn both with and without the small Talbot sponsor (the circle), do you know if they were used interchangeably, or were they from differing seasons?
Regards
Tom